Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

Gunmen Abduct Envoy in Pakistan
JANE PERLEZ
November 13, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen abducted an Iranian diplomat in the chaotic city of Peshawar
in Pakistan’s northwest Thursday, a day after the assassination of an American aid official there.

The diplomat, Hesmatollah Atharzadeh, who was the commercial counselor at the Iranian consulate, was leaving
his house in the suburb of Hayatabad when the gunmen attacked, the police said. His driver also was killed.

The kidnapping of the Iranian comes after a series of suicide bombings by Taliban
militants in Peshawar in the last few months. The police said they suspected Islamic
militants were involved in the killing of the American aid worker, Stephen D. Vance.

On Monday night, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the city’s main stadium after
the closing ceremony of interprovincial games, the first such event after a new secular
provincial government lifted the ban on sports imposed by a coalition of religious parties.

According to police accounts, Mr. Atharzadeh was snatched when he was on his way to work. The
attackers sprayed bullets at the car and dragged the diplomat away, the police said.

An Afghan diplomat, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was kidnapped from Hayatabad two months ago, and is
still missing. The suburb of Hayatabad abuts the Khyber region of the Federally Administered Tribal
Area, and is the first point of entry for militants coming from the tribal area into Peshawar.

Kidnappings in Hayatabad have become so frequent in the last year that many well-to-do Pakistanis who
lived in substantial homes there have fled, leaving the area to diplomats and middle-class families.

Iran maintains a consulate in Peshawar so that it can organize pilgrimages to Iran for Pakistani Shia
from Kurram in the tribal region. There is also considerable trade between Iran and the northwestern city.

The Taliban and their Al Qaeda supporters control much of the tribal region adjacent to Peshawar and the
militants have tightened their grip on the city, terrorizing residents but stopping short of attempting a takeover.

Peshawar is the headquarters of the 11th Corps of the Pakistani Army. The provincial police force has been
trying to battle the militants in the towns around Peshawar by organizing operations backed by helicopter gunships.

But the Taliban, backed by criminal gangs, appear to have superior intelligence that
enables them to track the movements of politicians, diplomats and wealthy Pakistanis.

In the wake of the assassination of Mr. Vance Wednesday, some American aid
workers were evacuated from the city and flown back to the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/asia/14envoy.html?ref=world